Hi to all of you. I am new to the forum and would love some advice. My 18 year son was recruited to play ball at a local college and has just been diagnosed with a protuding disc in his lower back, I think L4 or 5. He hurts 24/7 but has been able to function but not play. He was pitcher of the year in our area but also is an All Area player who's life is baseball. He will be seeing a neurosurgeon in San Francisco because I do not trust our small city specialists. Anyone have any experience with this type of problem?

Hi jbowling and welcome to NeuroTalk. Here is the link to our Spinal and

back problems forum...http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/forum22.html

Lots of good information there and support.

Hi, and welcome to NT

Did he have a specific injury or did it just start hurting?

a protruding disc is not as bad as herniated discs or lots of other things. However, it can cause pain. It can get worse. He's athletic and young. He should be the best candidate to recover with little problem. I had epidurals X3 that helped my bad discs, bulges and herniations.

Sometimes surgery is successful. Sometimes it weakens the discs above and below, causing them to degenerate and cause problems too.

How about physical therapy? Sports medicine specialists would be ideal for him. They're sports-minded professionals.

Many athletes continue playing with injuries, for the love of the sport. I think they can but they'll suffer later on in life for it, though. Age is not kind to preexisting conditions.

A disc is "soft tissue" BTW. The vertebrae would be "hard/bone."

He's young and he's got you, so he's got it made.

Hello jbowling, and welcome to NeuroTalk. I think you will find this a nice place to visit. We're so glad you found us!

Welcome to NeuroTalk. Great to see you have come to be with us. Just let us know if we can be of any help. We are all here to assist each other as possible.

Again welcome, looking forward to seeing you around. Thoughts and prayers to you.

Darlene